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.]] ''Action Comics'' is the Comic Book series that Introduced Superman , the first major Superhero character as the term is popularly defined. The publisher was originally known as Detective Comics , Inc., and later as National Comics and as National Periodical Publications , before taking on its current name of DC Comics , a subsidiary of Time Warner . PUBLICATION HISTORY Superman Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster saw their creation, Superman, AKA Kal-El (originally Kal-L), launched in Action Comics #1 in April 1938 (cover-dated June). (Approximate present-day value (In "near mint" condition): $1,380,000 USD.) Siegel and Shuster had tried for years to find a publisher for their Superman character (originally conceived as a newspaper strip) without success. Superman was originally a bald madman created by Siegel and Shuster who used his telepathic abilities to wreak havoc on mankind. He appeared in Siegel and Shuster's book ''Science Fiction''.Gerrard Jones, ''Men of Tomorrow'' pp82-84 Arrow Books ISBN 978 0 099 48706 7 Siegel then commented, "What if this Superman was a force for good instead of evil?" The writer and artist had worked on several features for National Periodical Publications' other titles ( Slam Bradley in Detective Comics , for exampleGerrard Jones, ''Men of Tomorrow'' pp120 Arrow Books ISBN 978 0 099 48706 7) and were asked to contribute a feature for National's newest publication. They submitted Superman for consideration, and after re-pasting the sample newspaper strips they had prepared into comic book page format, National decided to make Superman the cover feature of their new magazineGerrard Jones, ''Men of Tomorrow'' pp124 Arrow Books ISBN 978 0 099 48706 7. The dynamic "Man of Tomorrow" was an instant hit, and he permanently changed the medium of Comic Books and Comic Strip s by formalizing a new fantasy subgenre. ''Action Comics'' was soon followed by the ''Superman'' comic book series in 1939, along with a wealth of other comics starring numerous costumed superheroes. As of 2007 , ''Action Comics'' is still in publication, surpassing a milestone of 850 issues. This makes it the second-highest-number American comic book series, after Dell Comics ' '' Four Color ''. Hiatus, name changes, and odd numbering .]] ''Action Comics'' is the second-longest running DC Comics series after '' Detective Comics ''; however, it cannot claim to have had an uninterrupted run, as it went on hiatus for three months twice, once in 1986 (when the regular Superman books were suspended during the publication of John Byrne's '' The Man Of Steel '' six-issue Limited Series , and again in 1992 (when the Superman books went on a 3-month hiatus following the " Death Of Superman " and "Funeral for a Friend" stories). In 1988, DC Comics tried unsuccessfully to return the format of the comic to an anthology and publish it on a weekly basis, but it returned to a monthly format less than a year later. (However, the temporarily increased frequency of issues allowed ''Action'' to further surpass the older ''Detective Comics'' in the number of individual issues published. It originally passed ''Detective Comics'' in the 1970s when that series was bi-monthly for a number of years.) Another departure from a strict monthly schedule were the giant-size Supergirl reprint issues of the 1960s and very early 1970s (published as a 13th issue annually). An issue #0 (October 1994) was published between issues #703 and #704 during the Zero Hour crossover event and issue #1,000,000 (November 1998) during the DC One Million crossover event. This was an almost company wide sales devices in both cases with Zero Hour and the #0 issues used as a "jumping on point" for new readers, and the #1,000,000 issues substituting for the issue number of the titles involved in the crossover. Early Anthology Originally, ''Action Comics'' was an anthology title featuring a number of other stories in addition to the Superman story. Zatara , a magician, was one of the other characters who had their own stories in early issues. ( Zatanna , a heroine introduced in the 1960s, is Zatara's daughter.) There was also the hero Tex Thomson , who eventually became Mr. America and later the Americommando . Vigilante also enjoyed a lengthy run in this series. Sometimes stories of a more humorous nature were included, such as those of Hayfoot Henry , a policeman who talked in rhyme. Gradually the size of the issues was decreased as the publisher was reluctant to raise the cover price from the original 10 cents, so there were fewer stories. For a while, Congo Bill and Tommy Tomorrow were the two features in addition to Superman (Congo Bill eventually gained the ability to swap bodies with a gorilla and his strip was renamed Congorilla ), but soon after the introduction of Supergirl in issue #252 (May 1959) the non-Superman-related strips were crowded out of ''Action'' altogether. Since then, it has generally been an all-Superman comic, though other backup stories such as The Human Target occasionally appear. ''Action Comics Weekly'' For slightly less than a year in 1988-1989, the publication frequency was changed to weekly and the title became ''Action Comics Weekly''; this change lasted from issue #601 to issue #642. During this time, Superman appeared only in a two page story per issue; however, he was still the only character to appear in every issue of the run. To boost the profile of ''Action Comics Weekly'', prior to its launch DC cancelled its ongoing Green Lantern title ''Green Lantern Corps'' and made Green Lantern and his adventures exclusive to ''Action Comics Weekly''. The move was largely a failure, as many fans felt the ''Action Comics Weekly'' stories were of extremely poor quality. Green Lantern was soon moved out of the title and relaunched with a new Limited Series in 1989 (''Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn''), followed up by a new series in spring 1990 (''Green Lantern vol. 3''). The rest of these issues featured rotating serialized stories of other, mostly minor, DC heroes, as try-outs that led to their own limited series. Characters with featured stories in the run included Black Canary , Blackhawk , Catwoman , Deadman , Nightwing , Phantom Lady (Dee Tyler), Phantom Stranger , Secret Six , Speedy , and Wild Dog . COLLECTIONS
AWARDS ''Action Comics'' #687 through 689 were part of '' The Reign Of The Supermen '' storyline, which won the 1993 '' Comics Buyer's Guide '' Fan Award for Favorite Comic Book Story that year. ISSUE #1 COVER See Also: Action Comics 1
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